Multiple compartment parachute assembly



J. T. BASNETT MULTIPLE COMPARTMENT PARACHUTE ASSEMBLY Sept. 2, 1969 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 4, 1968 I nvenlor Sept. 2, 1969 J. T. BASNETT MULTIPLE GOMPARTMENT PARACHUTE ASSEMBLY 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 File-d Jan. 4, 1968 United States Patent 3,464,653 MULTIPLE COMPARTMENT PARACHUTE ASSEMBLY James Thomas Basnett, Woking, England, assignor to G.Q. Parachute Company Limited, Wokmg, England, a British company Filed Jan. 4, 1968, Ser. No. 695,726 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Jan. 21, 1967, 3,257/ 67 Int. Cl. B64d 17/50, 17/76 US. Cl. 244-148 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Toprevent the rigging lines from the canopies of a parachute cluster becoming tangled during deployment, the canopies are each stowed in a separate sleeve, the rigging lines of the canopy are stowed on the outer side of the sleeve, and all the sleeves of the canopies forming the cluster are stowed in separate compartments of a bag which houses the canopies and their rigging lines, the bag being openable at one end to allow the canopies to deploy and having an aperture at the other end through which the static line is attached to the bag, the sleeves, and through breaking ties, to the apices of the canopies.

This invention relates to parachutes and particularly to means for housing a plurality of canopies which are to be used together to support a single load, such as a parachutist.

When a number of canopies are deployed together as a cluster, it is important that the rigging lines from one canopy are not tangled with rigging lines from another canopy.

The object of this invention is to provide packaging for the canopies of a multi-canopied parachute which separate the rigging lines of the canopies and so minimise the risk of entanglement of the rigging lines during deployment of the parachute.

According to this invention a parachute assembly comprises a plurality of canopies, rigging lines for connecting the canopies to a single load, such as a parachutist, and a bag for housing the canopies and at least some of the rigging lines, in which the bag is divided into a number of compartments so that each canopy is housed in a separate compartment of the bag.

The invention also includes a parachute assembly comprising a plurality of canopies, rigging lines for connecting the canopies to a single load, such as a parachutist, a plurality of sleeves and a bag for housing the canopies and at least some of the rigging lines, in which each canopy is housed in a separate sleeve and the bag is divided into a number of compartments so that each sleeve, with its canopy and at least some of its rigging lines, is housed in a separate compartment of the bag.

The invention also includes a pack for a multi-canopied parachute comprising a bag which is divided into a plurality of compartments, one for each canopy of the parachute, each compartment being arranged to hold a canopy and at least some of its rigging lines, the bag having an openable end which is closed by fastening means which are released as the parachute deploys, and a closed end which includes an aperture which communicates with every compartment of the bag and through which the canopies can be joined to a static line.

The parachute assembly according to the invention may include an outer bag for holding the canopies and the bag, and this outer bag may carry stowages for the static line associated with the parachute, and may have fastenings which are opened when the static line tightens.

Patented Sept. 2, 1969 The invention is described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings of which FIGURE 1 shows one form of inner bag for a parachute assembly according to the invention with part of the bag broken away to show the partitions, FIGURE 2 is an end view of the inner bag shown in FIGURE I packed ready for use, FIGURE 3 shows a sleeve holding a parachute canopy for use with the inner bag shown in FIGURE 1, FIG- URE 4 is a view of one form of outer bag of a parachute assembly according to the invention and FIGURE 5 shows a parachute pack according to the invention.

The parachute pack shown in the drawings which is designed to house three canopies comprises an inner bag 11 which is housed in an outer bag 32 (FIGURE 4). The inner bag 11 has a partition 12 which is stitched or otherwise attached along the middle of the upper side 16 of the inner bag and towards the edges of the lower side 17 of the inner bag. Three compartments 13, 14, and 15, are thus formed in the inner bag, the compartment 13 being defined by the partition 12 and the lower side 17 of the bag 11 and the compartments 14 and 15 being defined by the partition, the two halves respectively of the upper side 16, the sides of the inner bag and par-ts of the lower side of the inner bag 11.

The upper and lower sides of the inner bag are both provided with mouth locking slots 19 which are engaged by mouth locking loops 18 provided on the upper side 16 of the bag. The bag is provided with a cover flap 20 which has beckets 39 for the final closing ties of the bag. The closed end 22 of the bag has a central opening 23 which extends into the three compartments 13, 14 and 15. A bridle 21 to which the static line is attached is also provided.

Each of the three canopies comprising the parachute is housed in a separate sleeve such as 25 (FIGURE 3). The sleeve 25 holds the canopy 26 which is slid into the sleeve and its apex is attached by a tie 40 to the apex tie loop 24 of the sleeve. The tie 40 is of such strength that it will hold until the canopy is completely withdrawn from the sleeve 25 and will then break to allow the canopy to float away. The sleeve is retained by the static line. The sleeve 25 has a folded back part 27 which has apertures to engage the locking loops 28 on the sleeve. Bights in the rigging lines 30 from the canopy 26 pass through the locking loops 28 to hold the end of the sleeve closed until all the rigging lines are fully extended. The rigging lines are stowed on the stowages 29 provided on the sleeve. Similar sleeves, each with its own apex tie and rigging line stowages are provided for the other canopies of the parachute.

Each sleeve with its canopy stowed is placed in its appropriate compartment 13, 14, or 15 of the inner bag 11 and the three apex tie loops, one from each sleeve, are passed through the aperture 23 in the inner bag and are attached to the static line 31. The static line 31 is also attached to the bridle 21 as shown in FIGURE 2.

The open end of the inner bag is folded back on to the upper side 16 and the mouth locking slots 19 are passed over the mouth locking loops 18. The ends of the rigging lines come out of the inner bag through the cut away partion 41 in the end of the upper side 16 of the bag and a bight in them is passed through the mouth locking loops 18 to hold the inner bag locked. The cover flap 20 on the upper side 16 of the inner bag, is folded over the mouth locking loops 18 and beckets 39 on the flap are tied to corresponding beckets not shown on the under side of the lower side of the inner bag. The rigging lines are connected to four beckets (not shown) which are connected to beckets on the risers of the parachutists harness. The risers are stowed in the outer bag and pass to the parachutists harness through slots in the corners of the outer bag. The risers are provided with beckets similar to those shown at 39 on the cover flap 20. These beckets are tied with the same tie as connects the cover flap to the beckets on the lower side 17 of the bag. The ties are such that they break when a predetermined load is exerted on them to allow the fastenings to open to release the canopies.

The static line 31 has a hook (not shown) at one end and a loop 42 at the other end. It is attached to the apex tie loops, as 24, of the three sleeves and to the bridle 21 of the inner bag, after the inner bag has been packed, by passing the end of the static line carrying the hook through the tie loops as 24 and then through loop 42 a the end of the static line to form a larkshead as shown in FIGURE 2.

The inner bag is stowed in an outer bag 32, FIGURE 4 and which is worn by the parachutist 37. The static line 31 terminates in a hook (not shown) which is carried in a pocket 38 on the sleeve of the parachutists clothing. The static line is stowed in stowages 36 provided on the top of the outer bag and is connected to three ties 33, 34, and 35 on the face of the outer bag which hold the outer bag closed.

The stowages 36 for the static line can be arranged so that the static line is stowed laterally across the parachutists back or from the direction of the ties towards the parachutists neck.

When the parachute is to be deployed, the hook on the end of the static line is connected to the support in the aircraft and the parachutist jumps from the aircraft. The static line 31 is drawn from the stowages 36 on the outer bag 32. When the static line 31 becomes taut the ties 33, 34, and 35 break. We prefer to arrange these ties so that they break in the order 34 first then 35 and finally 33, but they could be arranged to break in a different order or all together. When the ties 33, 34 and 35 have broken, the outer bag 32 opens and the inner bag 11 is pulled by means of the bridle 21 from the outer bag. The risers on the parachutists harness now tighten and when they are taut the ties connected to beckets 39 break to allow the rigging lines 30 to be pulled from the mouth locking loops 18. The inner bag opens and the rigging lines are drawn from their individual stowages 29 on their sleeves 25. As each set of rigging lines 30 is fully deployed the final bight in the rigging lines is drawn from the sleeve locking loops 28 allowing the sleeve end to open and the canopy to be drawn from the sleeve. As each canopy is fully extended its associated apex tie 40 breaks to allow the canopy to deploy. When all the canopies are deployed, the inner bag 11 and the three sleeves remain connected to the static line and to the aircraft. The parachute is fully deployed and supports the parachutist 37.

As each set of rigging lines deploys from its own compartments the rigging lines from each canopy deploy simultaneously Without becoming tangled with each other,

The invention is not restricted to the use of three canopies, as two canopies or more than three canopies could be used provided each canopy and sleeve is housed in its own compartment in the inner bag. Neither is the invention restricted to compartments of roughly triangular cross section as shown and described. The compartments can be of rectangular cross section, or any other shape, so long as the rigging lines from the separate canopies are hidden from each other during deployment. The invention can of course be used Without the outer bag if desired, and would probably be so used when applied to inanimate loads.

We claim:

1. A parachute assembly comprising a plurality of canopies, rigging lines connecting each canopy to a single load, a bag having a plurality of compartments therein, a plurality of sleeves each housing one of the canopies and part of the respective rigging lines, each sleeve with its associated canopy and rigging line being housed in each of the compartments, means associated with the assembly and actuated by the fall of the load to cause deployment of the parachute assembly, the bag having an openable end fastening means closing the openable end and being releasable on deployment of the parachute assembly.

2. A parachute assembly as claimed in claim 1 in which stowage for most of the rigging lines of each canopy are provided on the outer side of the sleeve in which the canopy is housed.

3. A parachute assembly as claimed in claim 1 in which the bag is provided with an aperture, which communicates with each of the compartments, through which a static line is connected to the sleeves, and by means of ties, which break when a predetermined load is exerted on them, to the apices of the canopies.

4. A parachute assembly as claimed in claim 1 which includes an outer bag to hold the canopies and the said bag.

5. A parachute assembly as claimed in claim 4 in which the said outer bag is provided with stowages for a static line and with fastenings which are opened when the said static line is tightened.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3/1956 Haes l-51 4/1961 Istel et al. 244148 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,114,023 12/1954 France. 

